Next month I'll be visiting the cities of London, Berlin, Munich, Prague and Budapest to give a few talks and meet with some of our allies.

While I'm in those places I'd love to also see cool things and meet good people. I'd welcome any suggestions you may have for cool places I should go, interesting projects I should check out, policies or programs I should know about, even groups or people who would be fun to meet.

Thanks!

Well, obviously you should visit the Science Museum if you're going to London.

Berlin ideas
www.droppingknowledge.org
Sept 9-11th in Berlin
Check it out
Roof top of Parliament is fantastic and a boat tour on the Spree worthwhile. Try see the light bulbs in Parliaments cafateria. Kreutzberg is great.

London The Gate restaurant in Hammersmith offers a great vegetarian meal.

Posted by: dana S on 23 Aug 06

Got any details of your talks yet? Are any of them open to the public?

Yes, are the talks in London open to the public? It would be great to attend one.
In my opinion great places to visit in Prague are the Zizkov TV tower and the communism museum.
In Budapest they have a wine festival in September at the castle on the buda side which is very good (try the sweet Tokaji Aszu), also there's the liberty monument up on Gellért Hill which is worth a visit and just along the top of that hill there's an excellent restaurant looking out across the Danube.
And don't forget when in London, spend a bit of time in Camden Town and Covent Garden.

Posted by: Helen Rule on 23 Aug 06

Will you have copies of your book also? Would be nice to meet the author/editor in the flesh!

As for London, ignore the main tourist sites, unless you haven't been before... I'd suggest instead walking around some neighbourhoods and markets that have personality and culture.

Camden Town is a decent start, and I'd also recommend Spitalfields, Columbia Road and Borough Markets.

Dana Meadows was for many years the shining light of a group called The Balaton Group that met each September at Lake Balaton in Hungary. There must be great local contacts in Budapest. If Alan Atkisson doesn't have some to suggest, call Diana Wright, the publications director for The Sustainability Institute in Hartland, VT, who was Dana's research assistant for years. Dennis Meadows at the University of New Hampshire still participates, I think. Balaton folks would be thrilled to have you there.

If you ever want to watch how concentrated activity can transform a dingy street into a vibrant and fun market for just a couple of hours, go to the Columbia Road Flower Market, just above Spitalfields in London, on Sunday afternoons before 2 pm.

The Pergamon Museum in Berlin is a cool, old-fashioned, and just plain wonderful museum that recreates the past into spaces.

When your in London, you should check out the London eye, and the Swiss Re building, 30 StMary's axe i think, its an amazing building, in my humble opion.

Posted by: Gavin on 24 Aug 06

Go see the agricultural museum out by the Heroes Plaza and National Art Museum in Budapest. Catch a concert in the Liszt Hall at the Academy of Music (I timed my trip to Budapest to see Muszikas). Ride the Yellow Line subway to the Heroes Plaza, the oldest subway system on the Continent. Take a walk the length of Vasci Utca, the pedestrian shopping street, from the old market (good street food on the second floor) to Vorosmarty Ter. And have some poppyseed cake at the cafe as I did once to remember my father.

come visit us at solarcentury! i work there a couple of days a week at the moment. would be great to show you round
www.solarcentury.com

Posted by: joy on 28 Aug 06

Here are some Prague tips: Letna and Stromovka park. Troja and Zbraslav chateau. Tea house at Masna in the Old Town for smoking hookah. Vegetarian restaurants Country Life at Melantrichova in the Old Town and Bona Vita at Wenceslas Square. Row boats at the Vltava (near the Zofin island). Divadlo Ponec for dance (http://www.divadloponec.cz/program.php?lang=en).

Posted by: jeff on 29 Aug 06

Mike's Bike Tours in Munich is great. Mike and staff are down to earth, friendly, and very helpful. Not all of their tours are by bike, either. I did a great day trip with them to Neuschwanstein Castle, which was by train, bus, and then foot. They made my trip to Munich my favorite stop in Europe.